Posted by deadvey

Living life without a smartphone

For over a year now, I have not had a smartphone, I've been using a Nokia 105 (2019) which is a dumb phone with calling, SMS, Radio, Calender, a torch and a few games, though I never actually play the games as the only free one is snake.  Firstly, I will talk about my opinions on the Nokia phone itselfl, it's tough and reliable, with a removable battery that I can charge with a universal battery charger that I found, it would be nice if it supported more wallpapers as there are only three and you cannot upload more to the device.  However, I only really use it for calling and texting, which it does the job, one thing that has annoyed me is that there is no convienient, one button way of hanging up, for some reason you have to go into the mid call options menu then navigate down to "end call" button which seems like bad UX.  It would also be nice to have the option to store contacts on both the SIM card and internal memory at once, you can store a single contact on either one but then it shows up as two seperate contacts as opposed to one single contact that is stored on the SIM card AND the memory at once. Finally, the battery is not very good, however , seeing as I have around 5-10 minutes daily screentime on it, it still lasts around a month, but, I am planning on getting a spare battery for occasions when the charge is low, it would be quite useful.

Switching to a dumb phone:
I was never someone to use my smartphone a lot anyway as I have a desktop PC which is much better, and I've always been of the opinion that it's rude to go on your phone while with someone, and I find it annoying when people do this, even when I had a smartphone.  Previously I had Ubuntu Touch installed on my Smart Phone and that was pretty basic, there wasn't a terribly good app selection, so I was already doing 99% of things on my PC and only really called and texted people on that device, I probably had around 20 minutes daily screentime on the Ubuntu Touch and so the switch to a dumbphone for me was actually quite easy.  I wanted to switch because I found my phone distracting and didn't like the idea of smartphones removing the core human ability to exist without constant connection to the internet and instant dopamine hits from addictive applications such as TikTok.

Issues with the lack of a smart phone:
I have certainly noticed pain points, mostly artificial, such as my college expecting everyone to have a smartphone for the bus, and the register which is a QR code... The school's email uses a specific verification software which is a mobile app, I managed to set it up where it sends me an SMS code, however, it often doesn't work, or takes 10+ minutes to send the code.  The bus passes, which the college distributes via the buses app, was unavailable to me for a few weeks, before I was given a physical card, however, the card seems to be much better than the app and more reliable, and I've known people to not be able to get the bus because their phone was dead...
Finally, I notice more so just how much people around me use their smartphones, and it can feel a bit lonely sat doing nothing while my friends or family go on their phones around the table.

Benefits with the lack of a smart phone:
I find my life much more calm without the costant nagging of a notification filled, internet connected device, and I find that I don't miss the ability to instantly find information, no matter where you are, it actually makes life more interesting, me trying to remember something during a class or on my commute.
I take an A-Z map of Birmingham in my pocket wherever I go in case I get lost, and I have had no issue, I don't need Google Maps or anything.

Landline or Mobile?
Even when I am "out", I rarely use my phone and I think I could probably go without a mobile at all, the only time I've found it useful having a mobile was when I had a flat tire on my bike, but my parents didn't even pick up anyway so I ended up having to walk it home anyway, so I think I could go with only a landline.
The main issue with a landline would be the lack of SMS, I don't know of any landline's that support SMS because, while I prefer calling, most of my friends complain when I call them up and they seem to find it awkward.

Conclusion:
It was quite easy for me to switch full time to a dumb phone and my small issues with it's design are not very important as I don't use it much.  Additionally, I've found my life to be much better without the smart phone, and have found most of the issues with having no smartphone are purely artificial and relate more to people expecting you to have a smartphone as opposed to the absense of the smartphone itself.
I would seriously reccomend people who want to decrease their screentime or just dislike smartphones to at least try using a dumb phone exclusively, or even a landline!